2002 Chrysler Prowler Sports Car Hot Rod 1 Of 1450 Built Soon To Be Collectible on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Detroit automakers mulling helping DIA avoid bankruptcy looting

It's not really a secret that the city of Detroit is in lots and lots of trouble. Even with an emergency manager working to guide it through bankruptcy, a number of the city's institutions remain in very serious danger. One of the most notable is the Detroit Institute of Arts, a 658,000-square-foot behemoth of art that counts works from Van Gogh, Picasso, Gauguin and Rembrandt (not to mention a version of Rodin's iconic "The Thinker," shown above) as part of its permanent collection.
Throughout the bankruptcy, the DIA has been under threat, with art enthusiasts, historians and fans of the museum concerned that its expansive collection - valued between $454 and $867 million by Christie's - could be sold by the city to help square its $18.5-billion debt.
Now, though, Detroit's hometown automakers could be set to step up and help save the renowned museum. According to a report from The Detroit News, the charitable arms of General Motors, Ford and Chrysler could be set to donate $25 million as part of a DIA-initiated campaign, called the "grand bargain." As part of the deal, the DIA would seek $100 million in corporate donations as part of a larger attempt at putting together an $816-million package that would be paid to city pension funds over 20 years. Such a move would protect the city's art collection from being sold off.

Fiat Chrysler and Renault pursue $35-billion merger to combat car industry upheaval

MILAN/PARIS — Fiat Chrysler pitched a finely balanced merger of equals to Renault on Monday to tackle the costs of far-reaching technological and regulatory changes by creating the world's third-biggest automaker. If it goes ahead, the $35 billion-plus tie-up would alter the landscape for rivals including General Motors and Peugeot maker PSA Group, which recently held inconclusive talks with Fiat Chrysler (FCA), and could spur more deals. Renault said it was studying the proposal from Italian-American FCA with interest, and considered it friendly. Shares in both companies jumped more than 10 percent as investors welcomed the prospect of an enlarged business capable of producing more than 8.7 million vehicles a year and aiming for 5 billion euros ($5.6 billion) in annual savings. It would rank third in the global auto industry behind Japan's Toyota and Germany's Volkswagen. But analysts also warned of big complications, including Renault's existing alliance with Nissan, the French state's role as Renault's largest shareholder and potential opposition from politicians and workers to any cutbacks. "The market will be careful with these synergy numbers as much has been promised before and there isn't a single merger of equals that has ever succeeded in autos," Evercore ISI analyst Arndt Ellinghorst said. With these sensitivities in mind, FCA proposed an all-share merger under a listed Dutch holding company. After a 2.5 billion euro dividend for existing FCA shareholders - giving a big upfront boost to the Agnelli family that controls 29% of FCA - investors in each firm would hold half of the new entity. The merged group would be chaired by Agnelli family scion John Elkann, sources familiar with the talks told Reuters, while Renault chairman Jean-Dominique Senard would likely become CEO. Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini said the proposed merger could be good news for Italy if it helped FCA to grow, but it was crucial to preserve jobs. He did not comment on the French government's 15% stake in Renault, but an influential lawmaker from the ruling League party said Rome may seek a stake in the combined group to balance France's holding. A deal could also have profound repercussions for Renault's 20-year-old alliance with Nissan, already weakened by the crisis surrounding the arrest and ouster of former chairman Carlos Ghosn late last year. The Japanese carmaker has yet to comment on FCA's proposal.

Junkyard Gem: 2002 Chrysler PT Cruiser Dream Cruiser Series 1

It has become fashionable to hate the PT Cruiser these days, but Chrysler really hit a home run with the idea of a retro-looking, Neon-based vehicle that — legally speaking — qualified as a light truck according to American regulations and thus didn't need to comply with the costly fuel-economy and crash-safety rules applied to cars. PT Cruisers sold like crazy for the first half of the 2000s and even developed something of a cult followingÂ… but familiarity bred contempt once every parking lot and traffic jam in the country filled up with cute-looking retrowagons. I didn't start seeing many of these cars trucks in junkyards until about a decade ago, at which point the Chrysler section of every yard instantly became about 50% PT Cruisers. Most of the time, I ignore them as car-graveyard background noise, but the rare turbocharged Cruisers or those with manual transmissions can catch my eye, as well as those with weird body kits. The more interesting special-edition PT Cruisers also seem worth documenting as historically significant Junkyard Gems, and here's one of the rarest of all: a Dream Cruiser Series 1, found last summer in Colorado. Inspired by Detroit's Woodward Dream Cruise, the '02 Dream Cruiser Series 1 was the first of many special-edition PT Cruisers (if you're going to collect them all, you'll need to find a Pacific Coast Highway Edition, a Sunset Boulevard Edition, a Woodie Edition, and all the subsequent Dream Cruiser Series cars). All the Series 1 Dream Cruisers came in metallic Inca Gold paint, allegedly inspired by the paint on the 1998 Pronto Cruiser concept car. Chrysler planned to build 7,500 of these cars trucks, but I cannot verify actual production numbers. This is the first I've seen in a self-service wrecking yard, at any rate. The Dream Cruiser Series 1 got leather seats and interesting gold-trimmed interior surfaces. This one looks a bit rough inside, but we can assume it was glorious when new. Resale value on the PT Cruiser has cratered in recent years, so even a runner has little chance of evading the cold steel jaws of the crusher, once it starts to rust. Because every performance upgrade you can do with a Neon can also be done to a PT Cruiser, it would be possible to swap all the relevant mechanical bits from an SRT-4 Neon into a snazzy-looking Dream Cruiser and have the quickest PT Cruiser in your timezone. You should do this. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences.